Done!

That's it - Dragon Boat season is over! I made it through to the end! I'm so proud of myself. Yesterday the Montreal Waves finished our summer season at the Quebec Cup and we did well!

Our 250m races on Saturday were average - we finished 4th in Division C. Great that we made C, but it sucked that we couldn't place in the top 3.

Our 500m races on Sunday were much better. We finished 3rd in the semi-final and 2nd in the final. That final was a great race. We were neck-in-neck with a boat to our left and it was only the last couple of strokes that put them ahead. So close.

The end of the day finished with the 2000m challenge (up to 12 boats racing, leaving the docks with a 10 second delay between each boat). We were a bit worried about that. When we've practiced this race, we've always done it in 500m sections. At the competition they decided to break it into 250m sections. The organizers said because it made it more interesting this way. For the spectators - yes, I agree. But for the paddlers, doing 7 turns instead of the 3 we'd practiced was kinda hard. No, a lot hard! Funny what adrenaline can do to your body though. It pushed us through the first 3 turns no problem. We even managed to pass not one, but two boats! Turns 4 and 5 were hard, no question there. But as we came into turn number 6, we were able to feel the surge in the boat, knowing that our last 500m was coming up. And then- we powered through our last turn - screaming and shouting and grunting our way through, we even managed to pick up some speed going down our last straight away. And then, we were done! We'd made it through 2 kilometres and 7 turns! What a feeling. It was a great end to a pretty fun season paddling with these women.

We sat around and watched the last 2 races and cheered (i.e. screamed ourselves hoarse) for our coach as he paddled on his men's team. Then down to the pub for a celebratory burger and beer. A short night out and then I was in bed shortly before 9pm.

I have some other things to say about the weekend (mostly about the cold, the cold, the cold), the fun t-shirt I bought, the great atmosphere at the festival but for me it all works out to finishing off the season with a bang.

Now I can rest. For 6 whole weeks! Then we start the indoor winter training and I can start complaining about my aches and pains all over again ;)

Oh yeah - October 18, RDS, 11:00am, you can watch the Saturday races of the Quebec Cup. Doubtful that you'll see my team, but you'll see some interesting racing (particularly the mixed elite sports teams doing their 2k) and maybe it will inspire some of you to try it out next summer ...